... and now the world

The sun never sets on Tesco. The world's number three grocer has shops in 12 countries that stretch from Ireland in the west, to Japan in the east. In the United States, it operates the internet shopping arm of Safeway, the San Francisco-based supermarket chain. It has an outpost in Calais, its one French shop, but that is more an outpost of booze-cruise Britain than Gallic grocer.

Tesco realised that although growth was possible in the UK, in terms of opening new space and penetrating new markets, it needed to head abroad and do a Wal-Mart to take it into the superleague.

So, in 10 years, Tesco has become the number three player behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Such is its position that it was rumoured to be eyeing Carrefour as a takeover target. Analysts have dismissed this as 'unlikely' and Tesco has said nothing to contradict them. It would be more its style to buy a group of stores from its global competitor, than to acquire the lot.

According to interim figures, sales are up 14.9 per cent in its 471 overseas stores. Profits rose 65.9 per cent in Asia and 26.3 per cent in Europe, although those figures reflect a low starting point.

Tesco's style is, where possible, to link up with a local partner, such as Lotus in Thailand, right, or Kipa in Turkey. In central and eastern Europe, a relaxed attitude to megastores fits well with the Tesco approach.

'We have not gone into too many countries,' counters Lucy Neville-Rolfe, company secretary and director of communications, who has been involved in establishing Tesco in overseas markets.

'We build up an expert team with lots of locals, which you have to do in retail,' she says.

'We have criteria. We go where we perceive we can make a discernible difference to customers. We look for emerging markets, both in terms of consumers and in ability to find places where we can put shops. We have been lucky that in central Europe and south-east Asia there is also a well-educated workforce.'

Tesco treads carefully. 'We had people living in houses in Japan for three years and then we bought less than 100 convenience stores,' she adds.

The obvious destination would be Latin America. Are there Tesco retainers living the vida loca ? She will only say that there is nobody enjoying the high life in the Andes, so make of that what you will.

Tesco's international reach is as much about buying as it is about selling. Leahy announced last month that he aims to spend £2 billion on foreign-made products and produce. The emphasis is on non-food lines and, in particular, clothing. It is another thorn in the side of UK suppliers and environmentalists, who fear the impact on developing nations. Leahy says Tesco is the largest seller of fair trade produce, but then it is the largest seller of all grocery categories.

'We are international but we are local in national markets,' concludes Neville-Rolfe.